Riquelme a marked man, says Argentina's Rodriguez

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany, June 26 (Reuters) Juan Roman Riquelme has been a marked man at the World Cup but Argentina expect the playmaker to escape his shackles when they face hosts Germany in Friday's quarter-final in Berlin.

Argentina needed extra time to overcome Mexico 2-1 in the second round and their struggles were partly due to Riquelme being closely marked and cut off from his fellow midfielders.

''(Opponents) look for him so that he can't wind the Argentina mechanism,'' said midfielder Maxi Rodriguez, whose superb 25-metre goal settled the Mexico match yesterday.

''I think he's going to keep getting better.'' Rodriguez told a news conference that it suited Argentina for teams to attack them, which is exactly what they expect from Juergen Klinsmann's Germany.

''They're going to want to take us by storm and we must do the same so that we don't suffer the same as Sweden,'' Rodriguez said.

Germany, who scored twice in the opening 12 minutes in their 2-0 second round victory over Sweden, should be regarded as the favourites, along with Brazil, to win the World Cup, he added.

''Germany have a system we know well, which is simpler than Mexico's. We need to be compact, not leave spaces like we did with Mexico. It's another final for us,'' Rodriguez said.

REUTERS PDS RK1958